INNOCENCE:
Is there enough scientific evidence? No. if this case was made in the modern day today, how can we accuse Dracula of directly killing our victim, Lucy?
- To Dracula: Is there anybody who as met you and could correctly identify you as Count Dracula, the nobleman from Transylvania?
(answer: Yes, Mr. Jonathan Harker)
---> And where is Mr. Harker today? Until recently he has been sick with "brain fever" in a hospital in Budapest. He is the only living person who has met and can rightly identify Dracula as who he is. That information is kept inside his head, and in his diary, which nobody else has read (Mina and Harker agree to never open it, as a symbol of their trust in each other, pg. 100). Thus, nobody can justly connect the being that is now being accused of killing Lucy in England with the Transylvanian Count that Harker met except Harker himself, who was not present with Lucy and has seen none of the events in England.
---> There is no concrete proof that the being slowly killing Lucy (if it is an outside party at all) is in any way Count Dracula. For all we know, he is happy in his castle in Transylvania. There is no DNA evidence linking him to Lucy or PROOF that he has moved to England. The evidence the opposition presents is merely speculation without concrete evidence.
---> In fact, the people responsible for Lucy's illness and death may very well be Doctors Van Helsing, Seward, Morris, and her own fiancé, Arthur. Because the idea of different blood types has not yet been discovered (1920's, by Karl Landsteiner.. pg. 113), Van Helsing may have slowly killed Lucy by transfusing foreign blood into her as many as four times. The probability that all four men have the exact same blood type as Lucy is ridiculously low.
How does Lucy represent the Victorian woman?
In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Lucy Westenra is the ideal Victorian woman: modest, self-sacrificing, and dependent on men. The job of a woman in Victorian England was to be a caring and efficient wife and family member, and Lucy gives up much of herself to fill that role. For example, even though she herself is dying from loss of blood, she takes pains to keep her frail mother untroubled. “I found Miss Westenra in seemingly gay spirits. Her mother was present, and in a few seconds i made up my mind that she was trying all she knew to mislead her mother and prevent her from being anxious,” (page 105). In this way, she seemingly tries her best to divert attention away from herself, yet she also embodies the classic Victorian woman when she ultimately requires the protection and help of men. As Van Helsing puts it, “A brave man’s blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in trouble,” (page 136). This refers to the fact that Lucy is constantly “in trouble” and in need of blood and protection. Her character is the quintessential damsel-in-distress, and she requires four blood transfusions, as well as constant observation and protection from men; Van Helsing, Seward, her fiancé, and Morris are constantly at her side. Lucy is the perfect reflection of Victorian thought on women: charming company, dutiful daughter, but unquestionably reliant on male defenders.
Lucy:
for romantic reasons: lucy is beautiful, young, about to get married, prone to be romantic
dracula earlier suggests that he too can love, and that vampires can only have romantic relationships with humans
“Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so?”
(pg. 43)
lots of sexual tension:
(pg. 88) “There was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the half-reclining white figure.”
“When I bent over her I could see that she was still asleep. Her lips were parted, and she was breathing -- not softly, as usual with her, but in long, heavy gasps, as though striving to get her lungs full at every breath. As I came close, she put up her hand in her sleep and pulled the collar of her nightdress close round her throat.”
(pg. 90) “His red eyes again! They looked just the same..” -Lucy
she is a lot weaker, more “victorian woman” than mina, and an easier target:
mina is more analytical, ahead of her times (typograph, improving herself, etc)
lucy is a typical girl
What is the significance of the relationship between Renfield and Dracula?
every supernatural villain needs human help in order to penetrate the “human world” from the supernatural world. renfield is, i think, purposefully chosen as dracula’s helper by bram stoker, because he is easy for readers to hate and alienate (he is insane, he does disgusting things that we can’t relate to like eating flies, he is placed in a straightjacket, etc.)
this is different from dracula’s other “helper” who is actually lucy. lucy is an involuntary helper, making her a victim not a sidekick to dracula like renfield is, and sympathetic to the readers.
this kind of reflects the victorian views towards women, especially young and beautiful women, and towards mentally disturbed people like renfield who are kept in asylum and “examined” -- one is the epitome of purity and beauty (which is why dracula targets lucy) and the other is a source of fear, distrust, “evil”.
Is there enough scientific evidence? No. if this case was made in the modern day today, how can we accuse Dracula of directly killing our victim, Lucy?
- To Dracula: Is there anybody who as met you and could correctly identify you as Count Dracula, the nobleman from Transylvania?
(answer: Yes, Mr. Jonathan Harker)
---> And where is Mr. Harker today? Until recently he has been sick with "brain fever" in a hospital in Budapest. He is the only living person who has met and can rightly identify Dracula as who he is. That information is kept inside his head, and in his diary, which nobody else has read (Mina and Harker agree to never open it, as a symbol of their trust in each other, pg. 100). Thus, nobody can justly connect the being that is now being accused of killing Lucy in England with the Transylvanian Count that Harker met except Harker himself, who was not present with Lucy and has seen none of the events in England.
---> There is no concrete proof that the being slowly killing Lucy (if it is an outside party at all) is in any way Count Dracula. For all we know, he is happy in his castle in Transylvania. There is no DNA evidence linking him to Lucy or PROOF that he has moved to England. The evidence the opposition presents is merely speculation without concrete evidence.
---> In fact, the people responsible for Lucy's illness and death may very well be Doctors Van Helsing, Seward, Morris, and her own fiancé, Arthur. Because the idea of different blood types has not yet been discovered (1920's, by Karl Landsteiner.. pg. 113), Van Helsing may have slowly killed Lucy by transfusing foreign blood into her as many as four times. The probability that all four men have the exact same blood type as Lucy is ridiculously low.
How does Lucy represent the Victorian woman?
In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Lucy Westenra is the ideal Victorian woman: modest, self-sacrificing, and dependent on men. The job of a woman in Victorian England was to be a caring and efficient wife and family member, and Lucy gives up much of herself to fill that role. For example, even though she herself is dying from loss of blood, she takes pains to keep her frail mother untroubled. “I found Miss Westenra in seemingly gay spirits. Her mother was present, and in a few seconds i made up my mind that she was trying all she knew to mislead her mother and prevent her from being anxious,” (page 105). In this way, she seemingly tries her best to divert attention away from herself, yet she also embodies the classic Victorian woman when she ultimately requires the protection and help of men. As Van Helsing puts it, “A brave man’s blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in trouble,” (page 136). This refers to the fact that Lucy is constantly “in trouble” and in need of blood and protection. Her character is the quintessential damsel-in-distress, and she requires four blood transfusions, as well as constant observation and protection from men; Van Helsing, Seward, her fiancé, and Morris are constantly at her side. Lucy is the perfect reflection of Victorian thought on women: charming company, dutiful daughter, but unquestionably reliant on male defenders.
Lucy:
for romantic reasons: lucy is beautiful, young, about to get married, prone to be romantic
dracula earlier suggests that he too can love, and that vampires can only have romantic relationships with humans
“Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so?”
(pg. 43)
lots of sexual tension:
(pg. 88) “There was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the half-reclining white figure.”
“When I bent over her I could see that she was still asleep. Her lips were parted, and she was breathing -- not softly, as usual with her, but in long, heavy gasps, as though striving to get her lungs full at every breath. As I came close, she put up her hand in her sleep and pulled the collar of her nightdress close round her throat.”
(pg. 90) “His red eyes again! They looked just the same..” -Lucy
she is a lot weaker, more “victorian woman” than mina, and an easier target:
mina is more analytical, ahead of her times (typograph, improving herself, etc)
lucy is a typical girl
What is the significance of the relationship between Renfield and Dracula?
every supernatural villain needs human help in order to penetrate the “human world” from the supernatural world. renfield is, i think, purposefully chosen as dracula’s helper by bram stoker, because he is easy for readers to hate and alienate (he is insane, he does disgusting things that we can’t relate to like eating flies, he is placed in a straightjacket, etc.)
this is different from dracula’s other “helper” who is actually lucy. lucy is an involuntary helper, making her a victim not a sidekick to dracula like renfield is, and sympathetic to the readers.
this kind of reflects the victorian views towards women, especially young and beautiful women, and towards mentally disturbed people like renfield who are kept in asylum and “examined” -- one is the epitome of purity and beauty (which is why dracula targets lucy) and the other is a source of fear, distrust, “evil”.